babysitting
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Kumiko accidentally ends up with a job.


**a/n:** i had to do significant digging through the wiki for this one, but everything mentioned is actually canon. midori really does have an iguana named macaron. also the name kohaku apparently means "amber" in japanese. why do the kawashima parents love rocks so much kyoani give them a backstory in s2 instead of giving shuichi any screentime

* * *

"Midori, I don't know anything about kids."

"It doesn't matter! Hazuki-chan's going to some party, and I'd sooner trust a crocodile with Kohaku before giving her to Asuka, so you're my last option!" Midori had been fretting throughout the entire day, and Kumiko had quickly begun to regret asking her why. "I'll pay you, I promise! No matter how much it costs, I'll pay!"

"Why can't she come to whatever the event is, anyway?"

"It's a concert at my old school. My parents are coming, obviously, but Kohaku's too young to get in, she'd probably end up being really loud or something!"

"Huh. If you, uh, really do need a babysitter that badly, I guess I can do it for a few hours, but I really don't have any experience with this sort of thing." Kumiko scratched the back of her neck. "I've never b-been that great with kids, to be honest."

"That's fine, don't worry about it!" Midori clasped Kumiko's hands in hers, beaming with happiness, and Kumiko couldn't help but accept.

* * *

"H-hey, Reina?"

"It's a school night, Kumiko, shouldn't you be studying?" Kumiko mentally slapped herself for forgetting about Reina's stubbornness and ambition. She could hear Reina reshuffle a pile of papers across the phone line.

 _Of course she won't come along_. "I just wanted to tell you that I somehow ended up with a babysitting job for Midori. I dunno how it happened, but I'm supposed to head over to her house in an hour. You could come, if you want. You'd be able to do homework and stuff, it'd just be nice to have some, er, company." Reina chuckled, a sound that came out rather garbled over the phone but made Kumiko's heart flutter all the same.

"How did you _accidentally_ end up with a babysitting job? That's rather terrible, Kumiko." Kumiko blushed.

"You've met Midori, right? I couldn't say no to that face."

"If you send me the address, I'll be right over."

* * *

Kumiko still wasn't sure what to expect when she approached the Kawashima estate, bag slung over her shoulder as she rang the glowing doorbell. Midori opened the door and greeted Kumiko with an overenthusiastic smile, practically shoving her inside.

"Kohaku's really looking forward to meeting you, she'll be down any minute now!" Kumiko looked around, idly noticing a battered Tuba-kun plushie on the couch. "We already ate dinner, so you don't have to worry about that. Don't let her stay up past nine, no matter how much she protests. I put some movies over there, you could watch one with her if you want." Kumiko nodded.

"Reina's coming over, too," she blurted out.

"Well, the more the merrier! Just make sure to repeat everything I just said. Here's the house key, call me on the phone if anything happens, and have fun!" Kumiko could hear a car honk from outside, and Midori skittered outside with one last wave. "I'm coming, Mom, just a minute!" The door hadn't even closed fully when Reina showed up on the doorstep, her trumpet case in one hand with a wolf puppet in the other.

"I saw her leave, so I assumed that you would already be here," she said, setting down her bag. "Has the younger Kawashima shown up yet?" As if on cue, Kumiko heard someone skipping down the flight of stairs. Reina immediately held out the wolf puppet when Kohaku reached the bottom of the stairs, but she made a beeline straight for the trumpet case. Kumiko gently tried to pull her away.

"Wanna play," Kohaku squeaked, squirming from Kumiko's grasp. "Pretty music."

"You like music, huh?" Kumiko set down the toddler once Reina had picked up her trumpet case, crouching to meet her eye level. Kohaku eagerly nodded.

"Big sis plays the _conn-truh-bays._ Really pretty."

"Well, that's not a contrabass, it's a trumpet, but they both sound great when the right person plays them." Kumiko winked at Reina. "Hey, would you want to hear a performance right now?" Kohaku excitedly clapped her hands together.

"Yeah!" Kumiko mouthed an _I'm sorry_ to Reina, who took the gleaming trumpet from its case and lifted it to her lips. Kumiko would have been lying if she said that Reina sounded any less extraordinary than she had that night atop the mountain, even in an unfamiliar living room with a child beside her.

"How was that?" Reina asked. Kohaku stared at her with the widest eyes that Kumiko had ever seen, starting to clap her hands.

"Really, really pretty! Play again, play again!"

"Kousaka-san's probably really t-tired now, why don't we do something else?" Reina shot Kumiko a look of gratitude.

"Like what?"

"Uh, how about a movie? Your big sis put out a couple by the TV." Kohaku shook her head.

"Too crazy. Too loud. Don't wanna." Reina had put her trumpet back in its case, placing it high on a mantle to keep it away from Kohaku.

"I brought a friend," Reina said in an unsettlingly high-pitched voice. She picked up the wolf puppet from where it had laid on the floor for the duration of the impromptu performance. "Look, his name is Mr. Pillows." Kumiko snorted, ignoring Reina's pointed glare. Kohaku tentatively tapped the puppet on the nose before backing away.

"Is he nice?" she asked. Reina nodded.

"He's a well-versed traveler," she said, her voice gradually returning to its normal tone. "He's gone all around the world in search of the perfect, erm, friend to cuddle." Kohaku blinked, plopping down on the floor.

"Okay."

"How long have you had that?" Kumiko whispered, pointing to the puppet. Reina shrugged.

"I found it in the back of my room. It's somewhat cute, I thought, so I decided to bring it - him - here." Kohaku had already lost interest, beginning to wander up the stairs. Kumiko nervously followed her, attempting all the while to coax her back down.

"H-hey, Reina?" she called, picking up Kohaku once she reached the top of the stairs. "Could your Mr. Pillows help with this?" Reina rolled her eyes and followed Kumiko up the steps, the wolf puppet still on her hand.

"Macaron!" Kohaku squeaked.

"What?" Kumiko set the toddler down briefly, letting her clamber across the hallways.

"Wanna play with Macaron!" Reina looked to the wolf puppet.

"Did she decide to rename it Macaron?" she wondered. Kohaku took hold of Kumiko's hand and dragged her to a room on the other side of the hall, a room with an alarming amount of Tuba-kun merchandise.

"Kohaku, isn't this your sister's room?" Kumiko felt an immense feeling of discomfort, standing in her friend's private space without her knowledge. "We should, uh, go back and-"

"Macaron!" Kohaku pointed to a bedside table, and Kumiko jumped. There, sitting on the ornate wooden table, was a tank with an iguana sunning itself.

"What is that thing?!" she yelped.

"Macaron," Kohaku repeated smugly. Reina sighed.

"We can't play with your sister's lizard," she said, putting her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. Kohaku pouted.

"But I wanna play with _Macaron!"_ she wailed.

"I'm never having kids," Kumiko muttered, picking up the tank with a resigned sigh. "Reina, could you, uh, please close the door? I'm breaking enough rules as it is, I don't want that thing to escape too." Reina nodded, shutting the door with as much carefulness as she could. Kohaku's eyes lit up as Kumiko picked up the tank and set it down on the floor.

"Macaron!" she squealed excitedly.

"She really is a spitting image of her sister," Reina noted.

"Y-yeah." Kohaku reached into the tank and pulled out the iguana, which wriggled in protest. Kumiko turned her attention back to the toddler. "You can, uh, only play with Macaron for ten minutes, okay?" Kohaku dutifully nodded, stroking Macaron on the head.

"Did she ever mention having a lizard?" Reina asked. Kumiko shook her head.

"Midori doesn't really share much of her personal life, and I figured that it'd be kinda rude to ask."

"She seems extremely dedicated to her craft, in any case." Reina cast a glance over at the silver music stand in the corner, pristine safe for a sticker pressed on the center. "I have to wonder why she didn't go somewhere like Rikka."

"Maybe she had a crush on one of the teachers," Kumiko teased. Reina elbowed her.

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope."

"Ma-ca-ron, Ma-ca-ron, Macaron!" Kohaku stroked the iguana's spiny head as she squeaked out a little tune.

"It's a good thing that she's holding it so tightly," Kumiko said. "I, uh, h-heard somewhere that iguanas are really-"

"Go, Macaron! Run, play!" Kohaku flung the iguana onto the carpet, where it skittered across the room and slipped underneath the door.

"-fast."

"I'm blaming her," Reina muttered, hoisting Kohaku underneath her arm as she dashed down the hallway, with Kumiko quickly following. The hardwood floor was slippery under Kumiko's feet, and she struggled to keep her balance as Macaron raced down the stairs. Reina jumped after it, still carrying Kohaku, and Kumiko took a moment to admire her determination before she was grabbed by Reina's free hand.

"H-hey, Reina, if you don't slow down then we might-" Reina slipped and fell on the sleek floor, holding Kohaku up with both hands while Kumiko muttered a curse next to her. Macaron turned a corner, and soon the duo was in pursuit once again as Kohaku stood at the foot of the steps, utterly dumbfounded.

* * *

"Your - _huff_ \- sister can _never_ know about - _khack_ \- this, okay?" Kumiko wheezed, hands on her knees as Macaron sat in its cage, seemingly none worse for wear after engaging in an hour-long chase with two teenage girls. Kohaku rocked back and forth on Midori's bed.

"Mm-hmm!" she squeaked. "Big sis is never gonna know, promise!"

"She'd probably find a way to have us expelled," Reina muttered. She was significantly less winded by the chase, but Kumiko could still see the beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. "Erm, Kohaku, why don't you go to sleep now? It's late." Kohaku pouted.

"We'll, uh, let you sleep with Mr. Pillows!" Kumiko picked up the wolf puppet from where it had fallen once again.

"Don't wanna sleep."

"Your big sis is going to be mad if you don't," Reina added. "You're young, you need your sleep more than either of us. This is _important,_ Kohaku." Kohaku's eyes lit up at the word _important._

"Special?" she breathed. Reina nodded.

"Very special."

"I'll go and get in my jammies!" Kohaku excitedly skipped away, singing to herself about some cartoon that Kumiko had heard of in passing.

"How did you know how to do that?" she whispered. Reina shrugged.

"Children like to know that they're important. Everyone does, really. It gives them a sense of purpose." Reina fiddled with the hem of her skirt, looking back at Macaron one last time before stepping out of the room. "In any case, I suppose we have some time before the Kawashima family returns from their concert."

"Time to do _what,_ exactly?" Kumiko grinned, her usual hesitation impaired by the fact that she was just about to collapse from exhaustion.

"Anything, really." The two had reached the living room, now, and Reina slowly turned the dial on a tinny radio on the coffee table. "We could dance."

"We could," Kumiko murmured, intertwining her fingers with Reina's as the two girls faced each other.

"I don't know a thing about dancing." Reina twirled Kumiko in a circle, and Kumiko dipped her in turn.

"Neither do I." Kumiko could feel Reina leaning in just so her forehead touched her own, and the feeling that followed could only be described as quiet fireworks. "I, uh, guess we'll be each other's teachers, then." The dance continued for about five more minutes before both girls collapsed on the couch, sleeping with their hands still held.

* * *

Kumiko wouldn't have been able to tell who put the blanket over herself and Reina, that night, wouldn't have been able to see the tiny figure smiling softly with the wolf puppet gathered in her stubby arms, but she was grateful for the action nonetheless. She was grateful, nestled beside Reina on a couch that wasn't hers. It was a peaceful sort of feeling, one that could have almost made her forget about the iguana incident.

 _Almost._


End file.
